Her baby, her grandson, the young boy she always called "special" is going into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Nolan Richardson — El Paso born and raised, Nolan Richardson — Bowie High and Texas Western graduate, will be inducted into the grandest of basketball stages in ceremonies Aug. 8 in Springfield, Mass.

Richardson joins his former coach Don Haskins, former Miner Nate Archibald and the 1966 Texas Western team as Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame members from UTEP.

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"I was notified last Thursday," the 72-year-old Richardson said from Arlington, Texas, on Monday, where he was introduced at the NCAA Championship game. "I just thought, wow. I'm pretty happy. Some people said I should have gone in sooner but I don't care about any of that. I'm just happy that I'm alive and my family can enjoy this.

"Something like this brings back so many memories," Richardson said. "Seems like just yesterday when I was an 8-year-old boy looking for an old baseball by the train tracks. I've had so many people help me reach this point. The Hall of Fame is a family thing and all my coaches and teachers ... just all the people who helped me are part of the family.

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"Of course, I think about my grandmother ... Ol' Mama, we called her," he said. "I know she's jumping up and down right now, saying 'I told you, I told you.' I can just hear her."

Richardson, who grew up in South El Paso, lost his mother to an illness when he was just three. Rose Richardson, Ol' Mama, raised him. And she always told him he was special.

Laughing, Richardson joked, "When she said I was special, I just thought she meant I couldn't spell or read or write. But she would always tell me that. I'd come home from a baseball game and she'd ask me if I hit a home run. I'd say, no ma'am. And she'd say, well, you better hit a home run. I'd come home and she'd ask and I'd say yes, Ol' Mama, I hit a home run and she'd smile and say I told you ... I told you."

Richardson coached and won at an amazing rate at the high school, junior college and collegiate levels. The former star football, basketball and baseball player at Bowie High coached Bowie for 10 years, posting a 180-90 record and taking the Bears to the regional finals.

Richardson finally got his chance to move up just a little, moving to Western Texas Junior College in Snyder, Texas, winning 101 games in three seasons and winning the junior college national championship in 1980 with a 37-0 record.

He then moved to Tulsa and won the NIT in 1981. He went 119-37 in five seasons at Tulsa, taking the Golden Hurricane to the NCAA Tournament three times and the NIT twice.

Next he moved to Arkansas, a place where he truly made his mark. Richardson took the Razorbacks to the Final Four in 1989-90, the Elite Eight in 1990-91, won the NCAA Championship in 1993-94 and was the NCAA runner-up in 1994-95.

Richardson remains the only coach to have won a junior college national championship, the NIT and the NCAA Championship. He, along with Roy Williams, Denny Crum, Jim Boeheim and Tubby Smith are the only coaches ever to win 365 games in 15 seasons or less. Richardson was a Division 1 head coach for 22 seasons and took 20 teams to post-season play — 16 teams to the NCAA Tournament, four to the NIT.

The man, quite simply, was a winner. Always a winner.

"So many memories at a time like this," said Richardson, who played his final two seasons at Texas Western for Haskins. "Memories of Coach Haskins ... my mentor. He won a national championship and I was able to do that. He got in the hall and now I'm in the hall. I'm sure he's proud right now, too, and I'm always proud to be mentioned in the same breath as that man. Some people can coach their whole lives and not match half the things Coach Haskins accomplished."

The late Haskins always raved about Richardson and, years ago, said, "I'm very proud of Nolan for all he's accomplished as a coach and with his charity work. A lot of coaches come from all around the country to support Nolan. He's always been straight up honest and he's won everything you could win. He's a winner."

Al Franco is also part of that Nolan Richardson family — he's the man who coached Richardson at Bowie High.

"Nolan was an amazing athlete," Franco said. "He was all-district in football, basketball and baseball. More than all that, he was a fine young man. I've followed his career since he left Bowie as a coach. He called me a couple of weeks ago. He's been such a great coach and he's such a fine, fine man."

Steve Tredennick, now an attorney in Round Rock, Texas, was teammates with Richardson at Texas Western.

"I couldn't be happier," Tredennick said. "He's been such an amazing coach and he's just a fine man. Nolan and I went to a function at the Arkansas Hall of Fame a month ago when they were honoring (former Miner star) Jim Barnes. There were 400 or 500 people there and it seemed like every one of them wanted to come up and give Nolan a hug, get his autograph or get his picture. They showed all the earlier inductees on a video board and everyone got a nice response. But when they showed Nolan, toward the end, the place went crazy. They just love him there.

"The best thing — aside from the fact he truly deserves this — is that Nolan is just a really good guy," Tredennick said. "He was always a great athlete and he became a great coach. But he has always been a good guy, a good teammate, a good friend ... a great credit to his community. I couldn't be happier and my wife Diane and I will be there in Springfield on Aug. 8. I've already made our reservations."

Nolan Richardson has had an amazing run as a basketball coach ... an international hallof-fame run. But he has had his share of tragedy, too.

"Of course, I remember my baby, Yvonne, at a time like this," he said softly. "My last year at Tulsa we found out she had leukemia. That was tough ... so difficult. I wasn't a basketball coach for two years."

Yvonne Richardson died at age 15 ... when her father was just beginning his run at Arkansas.

"My baby's been gone 27 years now," he said. "Can't believe it. But her name is still out there. And she's done more than most people do in a full life."

Nolan Richardson had raised more than $1.5 million in Yvonne's name for cancer patients and cancer research. Unfortunately, he has had to add to the name.

"My son Nolan (III) passed away two years ago on Mother's Day (a heart attack at age 47)," Richardson said softly. "I've added his name to it now. We're still raising money. We'll be back in El Paso next week to get ready for our annual fundraising golf tournament."

Richardson was on his way to a reception late Monday afternoon, then on to the championship game between Connecticut and Kentucky. It is all a bit of a whirlwind.

"Wow," he said again.

Then he said, "I guess you can say I've had a pretty darn good run. Guess I better pinch myself so I can wake up."

A moment or two later, Richardson — this distinguished and eloquent man who went from South El Paso to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame — chuckled and said, "I think Ol' Mama might just be a little proud right now."

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